Diary of a Wimpy Kid Studio Tour!

In the spirit and style of Jeff Kinney’s tell-it-like-it-is antihero Greg Heffley, I will say this: you have to be practically living under a rock if you have not heard of the hugely popular and successful middle grade book series Diary of a Wimpy Kid. If you are not around kids on a regular basis, I somewhat excuse you, but if you are, you have undoubtedly seen the books being lugged around and likely watched snippets of a spin-off movie or two. These books have permeated our popular culture!

There is absolutely nothing special about main character Greg Heffley—he is not particularly nice, or smart, or hard-working. He is the everyman, or everykid, I should say, living in the trenches of childhood and dealing with well-meaning but clueless adults, menacing bullies, and nerdy sidekicks. And today’s middle grade readers absolutely adore him. To add to their appeal, the books have hand-drawn (and charmingly crude) illustrations drawn by author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney himself.

As a Massachusetts resident, I have the unique privilege of living about an hour away from Jeff’s amazing bookstore and café, An Unlikely Story, located in his hometown of Plainville, midway between Boston and Worcester.

It’s chock full of Diary of a Wimpy Kid author-signed books, t-shirts, games, and all kinds of associated merchandise. And lots and lots of other wonderful authors’ books, for both kids and adults.

Though I haven’t had the pleasure of attending one of the many author book-signing events he hosts there on a regular basis, I do count myself extremely lucky for having scored limited-supply tickets to his Diary of a Wimpy Kid Studio Tour, which I attended earlier this summer. What I’m sharing with you here is what I was able to see, hear about, and photograph on the tour. Ready? Let’s go!

Jeff’s studio consists of the upper two levels of the building, right above the ground-level bookstore and café. The second level is where the main event-hosting space is located. It’s beautiful, with a stage and plenty of seating space.

There is also a large conference room on this floor, with a conference table that Jeff had specially made to look like the Boston Celtics’ wooden basketball court floor! This and other staff office space nearby are reminders of all the day-to-day business work that goes into running Kinney’s successful franchise.

The third and top level of the building is, quite honestly, where the creative magic seems to happen. The office of Jeff and a handful of others he works directly with is housed in a fishbowl-esque, glass-enclosed space with a “cheese wall” that is a virtual aquarium with virtual fish swimming around!

His desk sits in the center of the whole space, flanked by the other desks, and there is also a British phone booth-style private space he uses to brainstorm and write in.

I loved how every last detail was painstakingly created to mimic the illustration style of the books. Even the walls looked like the lined paper in Greg’s journal. This was clearly a labor of love for Mr. Kinney to create.

The remainder of the top floor is used for event overflow space, and looks like a work of art in itself, with a Loded Diper (Rodrick Heffley’s band) drum set suspended from the ceiling and a large screen for viewing the event stage of the second floor. Also on the floor is a Rodrick-themed kitchenette with speaker cabinets and rock star lighting. I’d imagine this is for when Jeff and his team want to make themselves coffee or heat up some lunch while channeling Rodrick’s rock star energy.

There are workspaces nearby that look just like the inside of a jet airliner and have windows that can go from day to night with the flick of a switch!

Whew! I am exhausted simply from describing everything up to this point, but hopefully you get the point. This is a beautiful and highly designed space that Kinney and his team created for their working lives. It was so much fun to see and hear all about.

And of course, before I left, I had to stock up on some goodies for my kids, who might be the biggest fans out there! We’ll be back, I’m sure. For those of you who do not live close by, you can order the books and merchandise the store sells on their website. For those who do, be sure to check out their upcoming events calendar and follow them on social media:

Facebook: An Unlikely Story

Instagram: @anunlikelystory

Twitter: @unlikelybkstore

I hope you enjoyed the virtual tour! Do you have a favorite Diary of a Wimpy Kid book or character?